- (CNSNews.com) - The wife of Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama told a crowd of homosexual activists last week that
her husband wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and
reverse the rule on homosexuals in the military. Michelle Obama also
drew parallels with homosexual advocacy groups and the civil rights
movement, referring to events "from Selma to Stonewall."
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- Speaking to the Democratic National Committee's Gay and
Lesbian Leadership Committee last Thursday in New York City, Michelle
Obama said her husband supports "a world where federal laws
don't discriminate against same-sex relationships, including equal
treatment for any relationship recognized under state law."
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- "That is why he supports robust civil unions,"
she said. "That is why he has said the federal government should
not stand in the way of states that want to decide for themselves
how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples -- whether
that means a domestic partnership, a civil union or a civil marriage."
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- The Illinois senator has spoken little about homosexual
issues on the campaign trail, but a position paper on his Web site
http://tinyurl.com/5dhpx6 says that Obama wants to "fully repeal
the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure
1,100-plus federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on
the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil
unions and other legally recognized unions."
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- The DOMA has two parts: one defines marriage as between
a man and a woman, and the second part says a homosexual marriage
in one state does not have to be recognized in another state.
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- Such a law could have added impetus since the California
Supreme Court ruled last month to legally recognize homosexual marriages.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, and New
Hampshire have enacted legal unions for homosexual couples either
through legislation or court order.
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- The absence of a federal law could mean that the more
than 40 states that have bans -- either constitutional or in statute
-- on same-sex marriage would be required to recognize a homosexual
marriage license from another state as a legally binding contract.
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- Sen. Obama's position paper was likely referencing the
federal definition provision that would extend Social Security and
other government benefits to same-sex couples, said Lynn Wardle,
a law professor at Brigham Young University. Nonetheless, this could
effectively nationalize same-sex marriage, Wardle said.
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- "If a judge in San Francisco says 'for Social Security
purposes, that's the law,' then a trial judge in San Francisco could
affect the whole country," Wardle told Cybercast News Service.
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- "A marriage is valid where it's performed and valid
everywhere, with one exception, if it violates public policy,"
she said. "As a political move, this would inevitably mean gay
marriage in most states. It's a step in nationalizing gay marriage."
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- Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for
DOMA in 1996 as a federal law. However, the Arizona senator voted
with Obama in opposing a federal constitutional amendment to define
marriage as between a man and a woman. McCain said his opposition
was on grounds of federalism, believing that states should decide
on the matter.
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- In 2006, McCain supported a proposed constitutional amendment
in his home state of Arizona to define marriage as only for heterosexual
couples, but the amendment failed on the November ballot.
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- McCain's Web site http://tinyurl.com/2n2xxj reads: "The
family represents the foundation of Western Civilization and civil
society and John McCain believes the institution of marriage is a
union between one man and one woman. It is only this definition that
sufficiently recognizes the vital and unique role played by mothers
and fathers in the raising of children, and the role of the family in
shaping, stabilizing, and strengthening communities and our nation."
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- Mrs. Obama began her New York speech praising the Lawrence
v. Texas ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court five years ago that struck
down Texas's anti-sodomy law, and said "same-sex couples would
never again be persecuted through the use of criminal law."
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- In comparing the homosexual rights movement with civil
rights, Mrs. Obama commented on how far things have come.
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- "We are all only here because of those who marched
and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall," Mrs. Obama said
in reference to Selma, Ala., and the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
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- Selma, Ala., was the starting point in March 1965 for
one of the most famous civil rights marches of the movement. The
Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village, was the site of what many
consider the start of the homosexual rights movement in June 1969,
when gays and lesbians rioted against police officers.
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- She also said her husband believes in "a world where
together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and 'Don't
Ask, Don't Tell.'"
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- Mrs. Obama said her husband helped get protection for
people qualified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in the
Illinois Human Rights Act when he was a state senator.
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- "In 2004, after hearing from gay friends and supporters
about the hurtful impact of DOMA, Barack went on record during his
U.S. Senate race and called for its complete repeal," she said.
"And as a U.S. senator, he voted to protect our Constitution
from the stain of discrimination by voting against the federal marriage
amendment."
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- Mrs. Obama told the gathering her husband has taken this
message even to religious groups. In a previous interview, Barack
Obama said he believed that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount http://tinyurl.com/2m2z9z
justified same-sex unions.
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